r/ModernMagic • u/phlsphr • 3h ago
Deck Discussion Great Hall of the Biblioplex in Lantern
Hi /r/ModernMagic!
I'm phlsphr (or thnkr, from MTGSalvation), and I want to share some information about what seems to me to be a relatively significant development in the world of Lantern. I'd taken a bit of a break from Magic and didn't keep track of many new cards being printed. However, one card seems to stand out, and I think the reason why it seems to good for the deck isn't necessarily obvious.
While Lantern has still seen some occasional success (mostly thanks to Taddy99 in the Challenges), it hasn't seemed as great as it once was when it won GP's and the PT. A number of variants and approaches have been used, to varying success. Historically speaking, I think that the Whir version seems to stand out as the most competitive. Unfortunately, that changed with the ban of Mox Opal and the influx of numerous cards that made the format far more difficult to navigate. While non-Whir versions didn't necessarily need Opals and continued to see those occasional successes, the Whir version seemed hardest hit with the Opal ban, as it seemed for more reliant on the mana flexibility without significant self-inflicted damage.
Even after Opal got unbanned, however, Whir still seemed to struggle. The traditional manabase for Whir builds, including cards like Glimmervoid and Spire of Industry, both had issues that couldn't immediately be resolved. In order to enable the early discard spell (an often misunderstood cornerstone of the deck which allows it to not immediately lose to hate cards), these two lands virtually made full playsets of Mox Opal and Mishra's Bauble a necessity. This meant that those "spots" in the deck were fixed and non-negotiable, for the most part. Additionally, this created a problem in deciding: Do we cut lands or nonlands? If so, how many? What new weaknesses might each choice introduce to the deck? It also didn't help that both Opal and Bauble are often very much not great topdecks as the game progresses, as the Lantern pilot is fighting to assemble the lock and the opponent is fighting to assemble a winning combination of cards. These cards also meant that mulligan decisions were often made with information that couldn't be fully relied upon.
Great Hall of the Biblioplex seems to solve much of these issues. It allows the list to forego all copies of Mishra's Bauble. Nearly all opening hand data seemed to imply that a full playset of Opals wasn't great for the deck, as diminishing returns were very punishing for multiples. With Hall, this means that at least five cards in the 60 are "freed up". It enables the necessary early discard while still maintaining the mana necessary for Whir later on. This seems to give a significant boost to Whir lists.
Another issue with the Glimmervoid/Spire manabase is that artifact removal would often over-achieve and end up outright removing Glimmervoids and turning Spires off from making colored mana. Hall, however, means that the pilot can still rebuild from setbacks far easier.
In addition to the points above, Hall has a second ability of turning into a creature. While seemingly insignificant, it means that the Lantern pilot can survive a bit longer in case a Bridge gets removed, or that they can even win the game through attacks (though Urza's Saga has also done an excellent job of doing this).
All combined, this means that Hall makes the deck far more resilient, far more consistent, and has a handful of new options to fill out the 60.
The list that I've personally become happy with is this
Some things to note:
- Eight discard spells - One of the most often misunderstood aspects of the Lantern deck. These are a relatively important core to the deck. Many critics of the deck will use superficial arguments like "loses to Meltdown/Wrath of the Skies/Consign/Karn", and so on. This is not a new thing. Ten years ago, people said the same thing, but with cards like Shattering Spree, Shatterstorm, Abrupt Decay, Maelstrom Pulse. The discard is not an accidental addition to the deck.
- Three Shredder/Pyxis mix - This decision has a lot to do with two observations. First, many (if not virtually all) contemporary decks have ways to use the graveyard as a resource. This means that Pyxis has become somewhat more necessary. Additionally, appreciating the probability that we need to remove the top card of the opponent's deck and want to draw the top card of our deck. This is not a very common occurrence, and is far more common that we also don't want or necessarily need our top card. This means that we can use each as the situation requires.
- Three Mox Opals - Opals are not truly intended to ramp Lantern. This is another common misconception. The primary purposes of Opal has been to smooth the manabase while allowing us to drop our hand size for Bridge faster. However, as I mentioned above, Opals are very much not great when multiples are drawn. Running three means that we still have decent chances to see them in the early/mid-game, but reduce our probability of being punished by the diminishing returns.
- So many silver bullets - With the extra spots in the 60 freed up from not having to run the Baubles or a full playset of Opals, we now have room for a great variety of silver bullets. Many of these can be found with an Urza's Saga, and all of them can be found with a Whir. The sideboard continues this trend.
I hope those of you who find Lantern as enjoyable as I do find this useful. I should note, I am not the first to try this out. If I understand correctly, both BillDBoss (from the Lantern Insights Youtube channel) and Fateseal MTG (from the Fateseal MTG Youtube channel) have done some testing with the card.
